by Monica on July 30, 2009
Dara and I are tight…tight-muscled that is. When I read her book ( Age is Just a Number) that included her pre-olympic routine I wanted to know more about the stretching she came to rely on to get her there. She called it her secret weapon. Now, I do not have the very apparent resources of Dara so when I saw the Resistance Stretching DVD with Dara Torres online, I was in. It is the work of her resistance stretching team of Anne Tierney and Steve Sierra of Innovative Body Solutions. I have been doing these stretches for a few weeks now and I come to look forward to them at night. At first I wasn’t sure if I was doing the resistance part correctly (and this is where a trainer or one of their classes would be good)…but I managed to go back and watch their very detailed tutorial again and again until I was confident I fully understood.
If you are an older runner like me you may also find these stretches very helpful as part of your cross training. I have been off the road for two weeks now due to my foot injury but continue to cross train and stretch. I am not as sore as I am usually. [click to continue…]
by Monica on May 21, 2009
I have been stretching my foot every time I think about it since I started Physical Therapy. My foot was in a boot for 6 weeks due to a stress fracture. The sports doctor also found a heel spur that is associated with tightness and soreness of my Plantar Fascia. I have been prescribed a twice a day (and whenever I think about it) routine of a series of 6 stretches to do at home. This coupled with my PT sessions of ultrasound and deep massage are all part of the plan to accelerate my healing so I can finally start running again. I have been religiously complying to this effort and today I woke up with HAPPY FEET (very mild tightness…no pain). I have heard many conflicting theories on whether or not runners really do need to stretch and although I have always done a little, I am now a convert on the pro-stretching side. After reading the Dara Torres book in which she is fanatical about her middle aged daily stretching (and don’t we wish we all had someone to do it for us as she does!). I thought it could help this 46 year old runner. It looks like it’s working. I will mark this day as progress in my recovery journal categorized as: Stretching-the truth.
For a peek at some of the stretches I have been doing go to: CYBER PT
